The art for the fundraiser Glow Wizards has been finalized, thanks to Zach at

ZAMdesign. I really like where Zach went with this one, a little bit evil, a little bit playful, and 100% twisted. I think that embodies the feeling of this little tourney.

For anybody who isn’t familiar with the legendary Gateway Glow plastic, it’s one of the most favored blends out on the market. It’s even more durable than Gateway’s normal “S” blend (widely accepted as the best base line plastic of any company), and it feels great in the hand. Being relatively firm, glow Wizards are my go-to discs for approaches, and being more durable, I find them to remain more wind resistant than other putters. Oh yeah, and unlike most other “glow” discs, these puppies actually GLOW! My glow Wizards shine like a beacon when the sun dips past the horizon, which you may want to take into account if playing after dark isn’t permitted at your local course. I have one Superglow Wizard that literally doesn’t even need to be exposed to light to glow…simple heat will do the trick. No lie!

With any luck, I’ll have the discs in hand soon, so if you’re interested in picking one of these fund raisers up ($15 + $2.50 shipping), just get in touch and I can hook you up!

This October will see the first true AADG event. In the spirit of Halloween (and a lack of Howliewood being held this year), I’ll be running a casual little tournament called Terror Creek 666 Doubles held at Terrace Creek Park, in Mountlake Terrace, WA on October 25th.

666 doubles is a format that I’ve been wanting to try for a long time, and I figure, what better time than Halloween? What is a 666 format, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. 18 holes of play, incorporating 3 different kinds of doubles play, i.e. 6 holes of one, 6 holes of the other, and (you guessed it) 6 holes of another. The three formats I’ll be using for the 666 are: alternate shot, best disc, and tough shot (dum dum DUM!). For more information on the details of the particular formats, check out the PDGA’s explanation of them here. It should be a true test of players’ abilities to work with each other, and play smart golf. If all goes well, everybody should still be friends by the end of the first round, but I have a feeling, there will be many apologies, among other kinds of language, uttered throughout the 666 round. To give players a chance to get back to the normal groove of doubles, we’ll be having a second round of best shot doubles–the kind everybody knows and loves.

As with any disc golf event, the primary objective of this is to have FUN. But on top of that, my goal is to raise money for the course to ultimately build a much needed information kiosk. As it is now, we have a couple stakes pounded into the ground, and a couple fence posts to hang fliers on. It is, in a word, ghetto. As our name states, we are interested in the advancement of disc golf, and having proper amenities at a course is one significant step towards advancing the sport. This tournament will be something of an experiment, and if all goes well, I hope to host many more events like this, at other courses to help them get off the ground, or to enhance what already exists.

If you would like more information on this event, check out the flyer here. If you’re anywhere around the Seattle area, or even if you aren’t, I hope you can grab a friend and come have some fun with us.  Even if you can’t make it, you can still help support the cause, and score a sweet putter by buying a glow Wizard, soon to be selling for $15 (+ shipping). The sport can only advance with your help (and yes I mean YOU)!

UPDATE: I’m adding an additional aspect to the tournament: costumes!  Costumes will not be mandatory for the tournament, but prizes will be awarded for the best costumes for those that choose to wear them.  Also, the stamp design is in it’s final process, and it’s looking awesome!

2008 Champion Scott Papa drives while 2nd place Big Mike Leslie observes. Photo courtesy of Eric Edgerton.

Every year towards the end of August, a disc golf tournament happens.  Not just any disc golf tournament, mind you, and it hasn’t happened every year, but it has happened every year since 1976.  Not a lot of tournaments can boast that.  In fact, none can, except for the Washington State Disc Golf Championships.  That’s right, this year marked the 33rd anniversary of the world’s oldest disc golf tournament that is still running.  This year’s championship was made even more special in that it was dedicated to the memory of Northwest disc golf pioneer and Hall of Famer Doug Newland.

It is a special occasion, run for the last twenty five years or so by long time Seattle discer Lowell Shields.  Lowell, being almost obstinately “old school”, tries to maintain the original feel of the tournament by keeping it non-sanctioned and presenting a casual, fun atmosphere for the event. More on The Oldest Gets a Little Older

Well the USDGC is less than two months away now, and disc golfers are getting antsy. Unfortunately, it’s pretty much only disc golfers that even know about it. Brian Schweberger posted the following on the PDGA message boards:

Billy Crump and Brian Graham have contacted Mike and Mike on ESPN thru the PDGA. They are trying to get them down to The USDGC this year and do a live feed during the event.

We need your help: to whomever reads this post, if you could just send an email to them and give them some good reasons why they should come down to The USDGC.

I am going to be emailing them several times a week giving them different reasons why they should give DISC GOLF a chance.

Billy wants thousands of emails to flood their computers. This could happen with enough effort from our community of Disc Golf.

The email is Mike and Mike

Thanks for all of your efforts

Schwebby

Having to petition a sports radio show to have them cover one of the largest events in your sport is something of a humbling experience, but it could be just this kind of push that could help put us on the radar and lend some much needed credibility. Spread the word and send your emails in today!

The annual Discraft Ace Race is on! If you read my earlier post about non-competitive events, then you’re already somewhat familiar with the Ace Race. For those that aren’t familiar with it, the Ace Race plays like this: you pay $25, you get 2 identical prototype discs, a mini, and a hat, and then you play a modified version of the course, where every hole is an opportunity for an ace. You have one throw from the teepad to try to make it in, and get as many aces as you can. They’re all makable, but don’t expect any gimmes, there’s still definitely a challenge there. Didn’t hit an ace? Oh well, move on to your next hole and try again.

This event is seriously a lot of fun. There is some level of competition here–whoever hits the most aces and/or hits metal receives a fat stack of Discraft discs, and then there are also other prizes for things like oldest and youngest people to ace. An added bonus to it all is that unlike real tournaments where you don’t know who you’ll end up playing with, you can show up to the Ace Race with your friends and play as a group. I should mention that these are not PDGA sanctioned events, so you can draw your own conclusions from there.

Check out Discraft’s Ace Race page to see if there’s an event near you. If not, try looking into running it yourself! This is seriously one of the best non-tournament events on a national level. I think Discraft is doing a great thing by offering this every year, its a great way to bring people out (even newbies) to enjoy this sport together.

Oh yeah, I should mention that my only ace to date was at last year’s Ace Race, and the discs they gave me, the Impact, have earned a permanent spot in my bag. And it WAS a legitimate ace, dangit! About 230′ I’d guess, with a slow sidearm hyzerbomb. So if you’re feeling a significant lack of aces in your history (or feel like chocking one or two more), then the Ace Race is the place to head.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the 4th Annual Fernburner at Lucky Mud, an almost overwhelmingly positive experience. I say experience, because while the Fernburner is technically a tournament, it amounts to so much more. You’re can stay at the inn or camp out on the course, are fed ample amounts of great home cooked food, and have plenty of opportunity to kick back, take a deep breath and lose yourself in serenity of your surroundings. Not to mention, you’re surrounded by a group of great people who all likeminded and share a common love. Sure, the competition is there if you want it, but it just seems to be one facet of this gem.

On the Sunday following the tournament, some of who camped out had a round of casual random draw doubles. My partner was Jenn, the only woman playing in the doubles. My game was simply not there in the morning, and Jenn had to do the majority of the work for us. And you know? I’m not embarrassed to admit that. The girl has game. She’s a solid player that could give a lot of guys a run for their money, and would probably do very well in PDGA tournaments. I’d even go so far to say she’d quite possibly dominate in the WA State Series, were she to play in it. But no, she only plays one tournament a year, and that’s the Fernburner. More on If not tournaments, then what?

Photo by Elliot Leuthold

Teresa O’Connell knows how to plan an event that I’d be interested in playing. Too bad she’s all the way in South Dakota. The Night and Day tournament sounds like a ton of fun though. The tournament consists of two rounds–one in the daytime under normal rules, and a second round at nighttime, using only 3 discs with glow sticks attached. Usually, if I’m going to be playing a round of glow golf, score is the last thing I’m thinking about, which would make a glow tournament somewhat daunting. But, for a mere $20 entry fee, with a meal included, I’d gladly take the risk. All things considered, I’d rather do that than spend $40 on a two-day traditional tournament, but that might just be me.

This sounds like it’d be an incredibly fun event, and I only wish there were one happening in my area. If you are fortunate enough to be around the Rapid City area and would like to sign up for this event, you can register on the Black Hills Disc Golf Confederacy website. Too bad I won’t be able to make it, but I may just have to steal their idea and organize one of my own here sometime….

This year brought the return of the only PDGA A-tier event in Washington, the Steilacoom Open held June 28 & 29. Jason Coke, long time disc golf enthusiast of the Seattle-Tacoma area took the reigns and did what was necessary to bring an A-tier back to the state. For those that don’t know, A-tier events, eligible only to current PDGA members, are about the top level events possible in the PDGA, with the exception of the National Tour (NT) events. It takes a lot of work to get approval from the PDGA to even schedule and sanction an A-tier, plus there must be a good deal of added cash to the event. Needless to say, Jason taking the initiative to bring this event back was no small feat. More on Return of the Steilly Supertour a Success